NCC: Internet Subscription Grew 32% in April
There are strong indications that the growth in the nation’s communications sector has continued to defy the general lull in the Nigerian economy as the latest data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that internet subscriptions grew by 32 per cent year-on-year to 86.9 million in April 2015. This represents a density of 51 per cent on a population of 170 million.
The latest threshold, according to a research firm and investment banking outfit, FBN Capital Limited has placed Nigeria well above the African average of around 16 per cent as estimated by McKinsey. The NCC’s data also showed that subscriptions were primarily on the global system for mobile communications (GSM).
It showed that MTN Nigeria dominated, with a share of 45 per cent of total subscriptions, while Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat accounted for 23 per cent, 20 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, FBN Capital Research in a research note last week said it expected the industry to continue to be a significant contributor to growth through private-sector investment. In 2014 telecoms accounted for 8.4 per cent of constant price GDP.
According to FBN Capital’s report, “Based on data from the NCC, internet usage grew by 47 per cent year-on-year last year on an average annual basis, compared with 11 per cent recorded in 2013. According to industry estimates, Nigeria accounts for 24 per cent of total internet usage in Africa.”
The report disclosed that the Federal Government’s mediumterm goal is to increase broadband penetration to 30 per cent at a minimum speed of 1.5mbps. To achieve this, the national broadband council has accordingly approved four fibre optic cable landing points in four states (Bayelsa, Cross River, Rivers and Ondo).
“Initially, there was only one fibre optic landing point, which is situated in Lagos. It has serviced optic cables from Main One and MTN among others,” the report stated.
“Over the past few years, the broadband sector has attracted sizeable investment, which has assisted in driving e-commerce platforms such as Jumia, Konga and Wakanow. On average, the leading online stores achieve about $2 million worth of transactions per week,” the report said, adding “We expect the industry to continue to be a significant contributor to growth through private-sector investment. In 2014 telecoms accounted for 8.4 per cent on constant price GDP.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Hotel.ng, Mr. Mark Essien has called on government to make 2G and EDGE internet access, free of charge for all Nigerians. The development, he said, will give Nigerians unlimited access to the internet, which has become a global necessity in boosting eCommerce and online hospitality business.
This, according to Essien would help drive economic development, as more people would have access to explore the internet for knowledge.
“There are several policies that the government can explore to drive sustainable businesses in the country, but one policy, which I think is key to the growth of online business in Nigeria, is for government to make 2G and EDGE internet access free of charge for all Nigerians,” Essien told THISDAY in an interview.
According to him, insufficient broadband capacity remained a great challenge to every form of online business, and eCommerce business, including that of hospitality business like Hotel.ng.
Essien, who frowned on a situation where internet users in the country are compelled to operate metred-bandwidth system, which makes it mandatory for them to pay for data bundles before they could get access to the internet, said in other jurisdictions outside Nigeria, people pay for bulk internet fee at a fixed rate that allows them have unlimited access to the internet.
“In Nigeria, people pay for data usage. For instance, some subscribe pay for 200 megabyte data bundle plan or between one to two gigabyte data bundle plan and at the end, the internet service provider will charge for data usage such that a person can consume all the 200 megabyte data plan within few days or weeks, depending on the usage, because for each single download, the bundle data keeps depleting until the user runs out of data,” Essien noted.
He explained that the system had made internet access quite expensive, compared to what is obtainable in developed countries of the world, where people pay minimal fixed fee for data bundle and they will have unlimited access to the internet, irrespective of the volume of downloads made.